As mobile devices, Internet of Things (IoT), machine to machine (M2M) connectivity (collectively referred to as mobile devices herein), and the like continue to proliferate, demands continue to increase for wireless spectrum. According to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) forum (www.umts-forum.org), the worldwide aggregate mobile traffic demand is forecasted to be around 127 exabytes (EB) by 2020. Wireless communication, e.g., data, phone calls, and text messages, propagates over the air via Radio Frequency (RF). Because of the growing needs in wireless communications, there are many different frequencies, or bands of spectrum, that are deployed. As demands continue to grow, the need for additional spectrum grows as well. To accommodate the massive growth, wireless networks are moving towards heterogeneous RAN deployments with spectrum depth (communication over multiple frequencies), using a mixture of traditional cell towers augmented with so-called small cells including microcells, picocells, femtocells, and nanocells for next-generation networks in order to deliver the expected bandwidth demand.
While heterogeneous RANs assist in meeting increased demands, there is additional complexity. A mobile device connects to an access point (or cell, base station, etc.) at only one frequency at a time, but there are multiple possible antennas and frequencies. In the heterogeneous RAN, the access point can have a plurality of antennas, and there can be various access points for a mobile device at a given location. Conventionally, the choice of antenna and access point is left to individual mobile devices, i.e., a local decision which is made without global knowledge. With spectrum depth, the choice of frequency could also be left to the mobile device, but, again, this is a local decision which is made without global knowledge. With emerging heterogeneous RANs, the lack of centralized load-balancing and resource brokering based on a comprehensive network view can result in unpredictable network behavior.